India to send 2 planeloads of aid to Kyrgyzstan

India will send two planeloads of relief material to violence-hit Kyrgyzstan on Friday, official sources informed.

The development comes a week after the last batch of Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek arrived in New Delhi.

Sources said that the relief material included medicines, tents, blankets and food items like rice, sugar and baby food.

Thousands of people have taken refuge in neighbouring Uzbekistan, as the situation continues to be grim in Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbeks make up about 15 per cent of the overall population of Kyrgyzstan, but they are represented in much higher numbers in Osh, which has roughly 225,000 people and is on the Uzbek border.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have repeatedly clashed over land and water in the fertile Fergana Valley, which Stalin divided among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The valley remains an ethnic patchwork, and minority enclaves, like that of the Uzbeks in Osh, have been scenes for violence.